It used to be that developers would build (or have built) transit lines out into the greenfields, and then develop around the stations. It seems to me that this model may still be usable.
It’s encouraging that they recognize Metro is not the best solution for their corridor.
As for MARC, its main benefit is that it can operate on existing tracks. If you’ve got to build new track anyway, then meh, light rail is just as good.
by all means build new tracks- why is this such a problem and a taboo?
The article says that they're looking to set aside land near 5 and 301 to build the line. If they're talking about setting aside land, it sounds like a regular railroad. In Google Maps, it's roughly 19 miles between White Plains and Branch Avenue Metro. The route they suggest is mostly down 5 and 5/301.
And as Richard says, we're not talking about dense development. But, it's still just 19 miles. Putting conventional railroad cars screams of higher speeds and if they're not going end point to end point, it doesn't seem to make much sense. Not a good idea, IMO, unless they're thinking about this as the first step of a larger Southern Maryland line, but to me, it would make more sense to go down Routes 5 and 235 towards Pax River, since that's where much of the development is.
Fortunately, they can have the best of both worlds in a railroad from White Plains up to Suitland. They can just run light rail cars on it (see NJT's RiverLINE). And, the cool thing is that if they do want to implement intra-Charles transit, then they can build tracks on streets as in normal light rail/streetcar operation. The cars can then enter the railroad portion and operate at higher speeds.
I don't know how far apart they want to space stations, but light rail cars can operate upwards of 60MPH, which IMO, is respectable for a line of such length. And again, if they expand the line one day, they'll be able to put commuter rail cars on it for even higher speeds. And for intra-Charles transit, they can use this line as a trunk line, with spurs going to different places. Maybe one day soon, we'll be able to take the train to see the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs play.
>by all means build new tracks- why is this such a problem and a taboo?
It's such a problem because it adds enormously to the cost. The great thing about MARC is that it's pretty cheap to set up since it runs on existing tracks.
If you've got to build new tracks anyway then you may as well go with the more versatile mode, which is light rail.
Commenting by HaloScan
